Three organizing ideas and five policy ideas that could make the protests even more successful. By Eliot Spitzer | Posted Friday, Nov. 4, 2011, at 2:50 PM ET This is the question frequently—and properly—asked of Occupy Wall Street and its fans. Those of us who have written and spoken vigorously in support of OWS and …
Category: Global Economics
Where Are the Bridges?
By Edward Luce A driver is stuck in a jam in Washington. A man knocks on his window: “Terrorists have kidnapped Congress, and they’re asking for $100m otherwise they’ll burn them with gasoline,” the man says. “We’re going from car to car to get donations.” What are people giving on …
Did You Hear the One About the Bankers?
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN CITIGROUP is lucky that Muammar el-Qaddafi was killed when he was. The Libyan leader’s death diverted attention from a lethal article involving Citigroup that deserved more attention because it helps to explain why many average Americans have expressed support for the Occupy Wall Street movement. The news was that Citigroup had …
A Look Ahead at the Geography of Global Security
As readers of this blog know already, I’m fascinated by the thinking and writing of Thomas P.M.Barnett. He is a strategic thinker with an ability to express complex ideas and to synthesize those ideas in a way that is understandable to those of us not so blessed. Here is a recent article by Barnett that …
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Why the housing burden stalls America’s economic recovery
An article from the Financial Times by Dr. Lawrence Summers The central irony of the financial crisis is that while it is caused by too much confidence, too much borrowing and lending and too much spending, it can only be resolved with more confidence, more borrowing and lending, and more spending. Most policy failures in …
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America Must Manage its Decline
From the Financial Times and Gideon Rachman Recently I met a retired British diplomat who claimed with some pride that he was the man who had invented the phrase, “the management of decline”, to describe the central task of British foreign policy after 1945. “I got criticised,” he said, “but I think it was an …
Yes, There Is Such Thing As A Free Lunch: It’s Called Immigration
(As an immigrant myself, having come to this country in 1950 and gained citizenship in 1959, I think I have some standing in this discussion. TK ) Nick Schulz, writing for Forbes Magazine The pathetic American economy could use a boost right now. But everything being considered in Washington comes with a high price tag. …
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Is Iraq Siding With Iran in Helping Syria?
You might easily wonder why I give a damn. Well, what goes on in the Middle East influences the price of gasoline, influences how much money we spend on the military, which in turn influences our ability to balance our economy and move out of the economic doldrums. Tom Barnet cites an article from the …
Where an Augustinian fiscal policy falls short
From the Financial Times and Samuel Brittan St Augustine is known for saying: “Make me continent and chaste, but not yet.” Nearly all the world’s finance ministers stress that they want to balance their budgets, but over a period of years. The last time I quoted St Augustine was in the 1990s, when Britain’s last …
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Helping Define Your Financial Future 